


No Place Like Home for the Holidays

by rangerkier



Category: BomBARDed (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Bardvent, Christmas, Fluff, Gen, Modern AU, Mostly Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-02 15:28:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 16,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17266730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rangerkier/pseuds/rangerkier
Summary: An innocent questions results in his college friends finding out that Randy isn't going home for winter break. Yashee decides she won't stand for that.Basically a bunch of bardvent prompts that all happen within the some storyline. Kind of episodic (messy).





	1. Chapter 1

“When are you guys all heading home again?” Yashee leaned against her cue, watching Raz’ul examine the table, trying to line up a shot. She shot a glance around at everyone, not indicating who should answer first.

Randy ignored the question and looked at the arrangement of the balls on the table. He noticed a shot Raz’ul could probably make, as long as he didn’t mess up the bank. But he wasn’t planning on pointing it out unless his friend took too long finding a shot himself; Randy had next game and wanted to actually play before the hall closed. 

“Tomorrow,” Raz’ul answered, crouching down to see if he could make a shot without hitting the eight ball. “It’s not too long a drive, so probably in the afternoon? I’m basically planning on leaving whenever I’m ready.” He lined up whatever shot he thought he could make, sending the balls bouncing around the table with none of them actually making it in a pocket. 

“My flight is tomorrow at noon,” Tabitha spoke next. “I was gonna get a ride to the airport in the morning.”

“Oh yeah! I remember we were gonna end up leaving campus around the same time!” Yashee shared her own departure time in a roundabout way, walking around the table in search of a shot. 

“What about you, Randy?” Tabitha asked him from the other side of the couch, giving him a polite smile.

Randy tried not to visibly stiffen and stared ahead at the ball most directly in his line of sight, the four ball. Why couldn’t she leave well enough alone? Like, maybe if someone doesn’t tell you when they’re heading home for break, there’s a reason for that? But now that he had been directly asked, it would only be worse if he didn’t answer. “I’m not.”

Yashee slipped up on her shot, sending the cue ball skidding sideways, lightly tapping a few of the other balls before it came to a slow stop. 

“You- you’re not? You’re not what?” Raz’ul looked at him with wide eyes. Randy got the feeling that he was just refusing to believe what he already knew was the answer. 

“What? Did you all seriously think I was just always the last one to leave and the first one back after break?” Their blank looks told him that they’d never noticed. “I never go home.”

“Why not?”

This time, he did refuse to answer. He’d only known these people for one semester, he wasn’t about to tell them his whole life story. They would just have to deal with not getting an answer. 

“But like. what do you do for all of break?” Raz’ul was looking at him too now, the game of pool forgotten. “There can’t be that much to do around campus.”

Wow, man. Thanks for reminding him how boring the next month of his life was going to be. “Play games mostly,” Randy shrugged. “There’s a few events that like. SG or whatever puts on. I’ll probably check those out.”

“What about food? Are the dining halls open?”

“Other than a few specific days, yeah. I’ll just have to make sure I’m all stocked up on ramen before those.”

“That’s-”

Randy glanced up and saw his three companions looking at him sadly. Which was exactly why he hadn’t wanted to tell them. He didn’t need their pity, and they didn’t need to spend their holiday thinking about how he was still on campus. 

“Come home with me for break!” even Yashee seemed startled by her outburst, but she didn’t say anything else to take it back. 

“I- uh, appreciate the offer. But you don’t have to do that. I don’t want to like. intrude on your holiday with your family or anything.” As dull as his life would be staying in dorms for the month or so that everyone was gone, Randy was pretty sure going home with someone for that time would be even worse, just due to the discomfort. 

“But you wouldn’t be! It’s just me and my dad, it’d be great to have someone else around! We can write a song together or something! My dad’s a musician too! And I can show you all around my hometown!”

There had to be some way to keep this from happening. Randy couldn’t imagine basically living in someone else’s house for a month. Even if he had kind of lived with one of the two people in it for a few already in that she had been his next door neighbor in the dorm building. “Seriously, I couldn’t possibly- Besides, you’re leaving tomorrow morning, you can’t really ask your dad about it. You can’t just show up at home with another person.”

“Sure I can! I know he won’t mind! He’d be happier knowing I brought my friend home unannounced rather than let him stay here alone!”

Randy wasn’t used to someone _wanting_ him in their home. Where he grew up, no one invited him over. On the odd occasion that he was in someone’s house, it was always under their watchful eye. And he knew that was with good reason. Randy didn’t have a lot growing up; he’d been caught stealing plenty of times. 

But none of the people he was with knew that. No one around the school did. He could only imagine how people from his town would be tripping over themselves to warn Yashee right now, to tell her what a mistake it was inviting him into her home. But he wasn’t going to admit it himself; he didn’t want to lose what he currently had with these people.

“I- would you drop it for my sake? I’d be way too uncomfortable staying in your house that long.”

“But! But- We have a spare room! You could just hide out in there as much as you want! But you’d always have the option of spending time with us! And you’d get like. actual food! Not just campus stuff! I- I just don’t want you to be alone during the holidays!”

Yashee’s expression was starting to pull on Randy’s heartstrings. She literally looked like she was about to burst into tears. He had never really worried much about how rude he seemed to other people, but it was starting to seem like this was taking it a bit far, continuing to refuse her offer. 

“I…” it was getting difficult to continue refusing too, to come up with more arguments and excuses. “I still don’t think I can just show up at your house without your dad knowing beforehand.”

“Then I’ll call him right now!” Yashee leaned the long forgotten cue against the table and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She quickly dialed and the phone began to ring, she had put it on speaker. 

A few moments later, there was a new voice. “Yashee! How’s it going? Is everything okay? It’s unusual for you to call the day before break.”

“I’m fine, papa! But, I just found out that one of my friends isn’t going home for break and I’ve been trying to invite him home with me. He’s worried what you’ll think though, so can you tell him if it’s okay? You’re on speaker.”

“Of course it’s okay! If I had my say, I’d never let anyone stay on campus alone during a break! Come spend the holiday with us, my boy!”

Yashee looked pointedly at Randy in an ‘I told you so’ look. “There you have it, Randy! So what do you say? Coming home with me?”

Now he was really on the spot and it seemed impossible for him to say no again. Yashee was giving him a hopeful look, her dad was still on speaker phone waiting for his response, as were their other two friends. Plus, he had to admit, as much as it seemed like it would be uncomfortable, as much as he didn’t want to impose and be a burden to Yashee and her father, it sounded nice. To have the option to either be alone or with others, to not have to continue surviving on crappy dining hall pizza and instant noodles. 

“Fine. I guess I will.”

Everyone seemed to celebrate his response. Yashee actually just punched the air, he could hear her father’s excited exclamation, and both Raz’ul and Tabitha seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. 

“Then I suppose I’ll see the two of you tomorrow!”

“Yeah! Thanks, papa! Bye!”

“Of course! Bye, sweetie!” Yashee hung up the phone and put it back in her pocket. 

“I’m so glad you said yes! I’m so excited! You’ll get to meet my dad and my dog Sandy! I can show you around town! We’ve got a really good tea shop that has nice pastries and stuff too! Oh! And the lights on the toy store are always beautiful! You have to see those!” 

That… sounded like a lot. But he supposed there was a month to spread all this across. 

“Sounds like you’re gonna have to pack a bag now too,” Raz’ul pointed out, smiling at Randy.

“Yeah, well I can get to that later. Can you two actually finish this game now so I can play one?”

“Ha, right! I guess we kinda forgot about that, huh? Whose turn was it anyway?”

“Well, you botched the last shot, so it’s Raz’ul’s now,” Randy reminded them.


	2. Chapter 2

Randy had packed a bag the night before. Because of the short notice, an embarrassing amount of his clothes were dirty; he didn’t want to deal with the pre-break rush in the laundry rooms if he didn’t need to. Only now he suddenly needed clean clothes. Since she’d been hanging out with him while he packed, telling him more about what he could expect over break, Yashee found this out pretty quickly and gently laughed it off, assuring him they could do laundry at her place. The thought reminded him how much he was going to cost Yashee and her dad for the next month, if he had to do laundry immediately upon arrival. 

Yashee’s drive was pretty long, and she didn’t want to get home too late, so they left around mid-morning. Before they did, they stood in the hall outside their rooms for a few minutes saying their goodbyes. Raz’ul smiled and gave them both a hug, Yashee taking advantage of the fact to lift him off his feet. He said he would text them most days and told Randy to “have fun, be on your best behaviour” at Yashee’s. Tabitha gave Yashee a hug and Randy a smile and made similar promises about keeping in touch. 

And then Randy was in the passenger’s seat of Yashee’s sedan and they were driving down the highway. Somehow, Yashee still had things to tell him about her hometown, and about her dad and her dog. Not that Randy minded, but he was surprised that after how much she had told him last night, there was still more. Her town was somehow both tiny, quaint as all heck and incredibly historical. 

After a break at a rest stop for lunch, she seemed to be running out of things to tell him about and the car slowly fell silent. That only lasted for a few minutes before Yashee shot Randy a quick glance.

“Do you mind if I turn the radio on?”

“No, go for it. It’s your car.”

“Yeah, but I’m also fine without it. I don’t want to annoy you if you don’t want it on!”

Randy smirked, though he appreciated the thought. “It’s not gonna bother me at all, go ahead.”

Yashee smiled and pressed a button on the dashboard. A Christmas tune started ringing out from the speakers, mid-song. Yashee’s smile widened and she started singing along.

“ _To face unafraid, the plans that we made, walkin’ in a winter wonderland!_ Sing with me, Randy!”

He didn’t join in but smiled, watching her joy as she sang the jolly tune. 

“ _In the meadow we can build a snowman, and pretend that he’s a circus clown! We’ll have lots of fun with mister snowman, until the other kiddies knock ‘im down!_ ” she gave him a quick look that was once again imploring him to join her.

“Yashee, I’m the kid that was knocking down the snowmen,” Randy told her, as though that explained why he wasn’t singing along.

“No! Really?”

“I mean, yeah, I guess so?” he shrugged.

“Randy! That’s so mean!”

“I was a rotten child, what can I say? I’m still rotten, matter of fact.”

“No, that can be. I don’t befriend rotten people.” It was probably meant to reassure him, but it only told Randy that he must be tricking her into thinking he was a decent person.

 _Winter Wonderland_ ended as they spoke and the next song started after a brief pause to play the station’s jingle.

“Oh! You’ve gotta sing this one with me! Come on, Randy!”

“No! No, I am not singing _All I Want for Christmas is You_ with you, Yashee!”

His protests didn’t stop Yashee though. “ _I don’t want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need. I don’t care about the presents, underneath the Christmas tree! I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know! Make my wish come true! All I want for Christmas… is you!_ ”

“Please stop,” Randy had his hands on his face, holding back laughter. He was embarrassed, second-hand embarrassed and entertained all in one go. 

Yashee didn’t stop, she sang the whole song, keeping her eyes on the road but dramatically gesturing toward Randy as she sang at him. Around the time she sang _holding on to me so tight_ and threw one arm across her chest to mimic someone holding her, Randy stopped being able to hold back his laughter and desperately hoped he didn’t seem cruel. Yashee kept going, unabashed, with full energy, so he had to guess he didn’t.

When the song ended, the station moved onto a commercial break and Yashee took the moment to question him. “Why won’t you sing with me, Randy?” she pouted.

“Because,” he recognized that she wasn’t serious, “you’re my friend and I’m not singing a love song with you.”

“But, Raaaandyyyyy! All I want for Christmas _is_ you! Ya know, platonically,” she quickly glanced over at him. “I mean, I invited you to my house for a month, didn’t I?”

“Don’t lie to me. I know all you really want for Christmas is Tabitha,” he shot her a sly smile that she probably didn’t see. 

Her entire face, right up to the tips of her pierced ears, instantly reddened. He saw he knuckles turn white as her grip on the steering wheel tightened. Then she relaxed, loosening her grip again, though she was still blushing furiously. “You can’t just _say_ things like that, I’m driving!”

“It’s true though, isn’t it?” he smirked.

“I- well. Maybe? But even if it is, she’s gonna be on the other side of the country soon. Not like that Christmas wish can even come true, if it’s a wish at all.”

“And instead you’re stuck with me!”

“I’m not stuck with you, I want to be with you! Will you sing the next song that comes on with me?”

“Depends what it is, I guess.”

“There’s gotta be some song that you’ll sing with me!”

“I mean, yeah, we just need that one to come on.”

It was another minute or so before the ad break finished and the next song started. Randy recognized the opening beat and decided this was one he could sing along to.

“ _Come, they told me_ -”

“ _Pa rum pum pum pum!_ ”

It wasn’t that Randy didn’t sing the mock drum beat, just that Yashee sang it so loud he could barely even hear himself. 

“ _A new born king to see_ ”

“ _Pa rum pum pum pum!_ ”

That time Randy didn’t bother singing the onomatopoeia, instead just letting Yashee handle it. They continued like that until Randy found himself laughing once again at Yashee’s enthusiasm, though she still didn’t let it stop her, singing her part even without his. Randy collected himself and managed to make it through the rest of the song.

“See! That was fun, right?” Yashee asked once it came to an end.

“Yeah. You really seemed into that one.”

“What can I say? I’m a drummer. Love me a song about drummin’!”

They continued like that, Yashee singing with most of the songs that came on, and Randy joining in on some of them. Occasionally, when they found something else to talk about, there was a song neither of them sang along to. But singing and talking made the drive pass by easily, and before Randy knew it they were driving through a small town. The way Yashee took was a residential road, the houses decorated with lights and lawn ornaments. It wasn’t that late, but because of the season it was already dark, so the decorations shone with their full potential.

Then they were driving past a larger building, some sort of store? It was decorated magnificently with lights on the building and the trees across the lawn. There were large figures that looked like different toys, the people that came with play sets and those animals that had wheels so children could drag them along behind him. Randy had seen a lot of Christmas decorations, but nothing quite so fantastic.

“It’s the toy store I mentioned last night,” Yashee explained as she drove slowly by so they could both appreciate the splendor. “I obviously haven’t seen it yet this year, and I wanted you to see it too, so I thought I’d take the back way.”

“Well, you were right, it’s beautiful,” Randy told her. She smiled, apparently glad that he appreciated it as well. “Why’s the building so big? It seems huge for just a toy store.”

“Only about half of it is actually a toy store. The rest is a museum. It shows all the old toys that they don’t make anymore, and the original versions of the toys that they still make but the designs changed a bit.”

“Wow. I wouldn’t have thought there was enough stuff to make a museum of toys.”

“It’s another one of those things that’s like: How does this small town have a world wide toy company in it? We could go at some point if you’re interested, the museum doesn’t actually cost anything to get in and it’s got some neat stuff.”

“Yeah, maybe,” they had passed by the store and turned another corner. It was another moment before Yashee pulled into a driveway and turned the car off.

“Here we are! Home sweet home!”


	3. Chapter 3

Yashee stepped out of the car, opening the back door and pulling her bag out. Randy followed suite, grabbing his bag and following her footprints in the snow as she walked to the porch. She stepped in the front door, holding it for Randy to follow and called out. “Papa! We’re here!”

Randy stepped to the side of the door so it could be closed and started undoing the laces on his boots. He heard the hasty footsteps of some four legged creature and a large dog came barreling into the entry hall. It started barking as it saw him and ran over to jump up on him. Randy quickly straightened up before the dog got to him and started laughing as it put its front legs on him, wagging its tail.

“I thought you said you had a dog, not a bear!”

“Oh come on, she’s not that big,” Yashee smiled as she got her boots off.

“What kind is she?” Randy wondered, petting the top of her head and looking at her tri-colored face.

“A Bernese Mountain Dog! The best and fluffiest dog!” Yashee’s voice got high pitched and baby talk-y as she crouched down. The dog jumped away from Randy and moved over to Yashee, putting her feet on Yashee’s knees and sniffing her face. “Yes, the best and fluffiest!” Yashee pet the dog excitedly.

Now that he had a moment, Randy finished removing his boots. Then he stayed put, not wanting to move further into the house without following behind Yashee. There were footsteps again and he saw a surprisingly small man come into view with a huge smile on his face.

“There you are, sweetie!”

“Papa!” Yashee got the dog off her so she could stand back up and give her father a hug. He looked even tinier in his daughter’s embrace. Yashee released him and turned to Randy. “This is my friend you heard on the phone last night, Randy!”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you!” he stepped forward and held his hand out to Randy. “I’m Yashee’s father, obviously, you can call me Alvin!”

“It’s good to meet you too, sir,” Randy shook the man’s hand. He was starting to feel the awkwardness he’d been worried about last night in full force. “Thank you for letting me stay here with you.”

“Well, of course, my boy! The dorms are no place to spend the holidays. Now, let’s stop standing in the doorway, come in, come in,” he moved further into the house, gesturing for them to follow. “Dinner will be ready in a little while, can I get you two something to drink? Something warm, something cold?”

“Ooo, could you make us some of your hot chocolate?” Yashee asked, absently reaching down to pet the dog as she trailed after her. “If you want hot chocolate, that is, Randy?”

“Oh, sure. That sounds good.”

“Excellent! I can go get that started, you two make yourselves at home in here!” he gestured around grandly to the small but comfortable living room they were in before continuing through a large archway into what Randy could see was a kitchen. Yashee sat down on the blue sofa, continuing to pet the dog, while Randy stayed standing at he looked around the room.

There was a tree, already set up and decorated with lights and ornaments and candy canes, standing against one wall. The furniture, the sofa and a matching chair, looked like it may have been moved around to accomodate for the tree, but still faced the television on the wall. And against another wall in the almost crowded room, was an upright piano.

“You can sit down, Randy,” Yashee told him. 

He smiled at her but walked over to the piano to look at it. “You have a piano?” It was a stupid question, obviously they did.

“Yeah! I told you my dad’s a musician, right?”

“Yeah, but you never said what he played,” Randy held his hand out, keeping it hovering over the keys. “Can I?” he asked, glancing back to see Yashee looking over her shoulder at him.

“Of course! And he actually plays a few things, if you’re curious.” 

Randy looked back at the keys as he lowered his hand onto them. He played a quick scale before shifting into playing a proper melody.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you play before. Just you, I mean, obviously I’ve seen you in jazz band. I live next to you, why haven’t I ever heard you practice? I can hear Raz’ul’s guitar sometimes.”

“I have to go to the music building to practice.”

“Really? You don’t have your own keyboard or anything?”

“No. One of my professors loaned me one earlier in the semester, but that was only for a few days.”

“Well, you can play here whenever you want! Well, maybe not the middle of the night or anything, but other than that…”

Randy smiled. “Thanks. Good to know I won’t get rusty this month.”

“Ah, a pianist!” Yashee’s dad reentered the room, holding one mug in one hand and carefully holding another two by the handles in the other. He passed one off to Yashee and set the other two down on the coffee table that sat in front of the couch.

“Yeah,” Randy responded, bringing the melody to an end so he could join the other two. Yashee’s dad had moved over to the tree and was looking it over, apparently picking out candy canes. He sat next to Yashee on the couch and passed one to her.

“Thanks, papa!” Yashee unwrapped the candy cane and put it in her mug, stirring the beverage around. 

“Candy cane with your cocoa, Randall?”

He had been reaching out to take the offered candy, but froze. It had been several months since anyone had called him that. A few professors on the first day read his full name off their class list, but he’d been ready for it then. He recovered himself and took the candy cane. “It’s Randy.”

“Oh! I’m very sorry. Well, yours is the octopus mug,” he looked apologetic and gestured toward the cup on the table.

“Thanks,” Randy took the mug, the handle formed by one of the tentacles of the octopus, and moved to sit in the armchair. He followed Yashee’s lead, unwrapping the candy cane and placing it in the mug, so it could melt and add a pepperminty flavor to the hot chocolate. 

“So,” her dad sounded slightly awkward now and Randy felt bad. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t know Randy had bad associations with his full name. “How’s school been since I talked to you last?”

“Good! I mean, Thanksgiving wasn’t that long ago, not a lot has happened. I don’t really know if there’s actually much to tell you,” Yashee’s brow creased slightly as she tried to think of something to share. 

“Well, maybe I can hear from Randy, since I don’t know much about him,” he turned to Randy, wearing a slightly apologetic smile. “As long as you want to?”

“I-” Randy hesitated. “What do you want to know?”

“Anything you want to share. Your major, do you play other instruments, any fun clubs you’re in?” he listed off a few ideas. 

“Uh, well,” Randy started trying to talk about himself, starting with the questions he asked. He told him about some of his classes, about jazz band. He tried to avoid talking too much about pre-college stuff, and neither of them seemed to have a problem with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name Alvin for Yashee's dad comes from SignatorySea


	4. Chapter 4

Randy walked through the crowded store, briefly glancing around at everything to try to find something he wanted to look more closely at. He’d found a little decorative spoon that had a snare drum on top that would be good for Yashee, but he wanted to find something else for her as well. Just a small decoration didn’t seem like enough, especially given everything she had done for him. Plus, he was still having trouble thinking of something to get for her father, though he’d probably get Yashee’s help with that later. 

A display covered in glittering glass balls caught his eye. He didn’t actually think a snow globe would be a good gift for either of his hosts, but he approached it to look more closely at it anyway. There were several designs of the snow globes, one of each sitting out, with boxes that contained them in careful packaging stacked behind them. He picked one up to examine it, giving it a small shake to send the glitter and fake snow swirling around the globe. The design in this one was a few store fronts, there was a switch on the bottom that lit up the windows of the buildings. On the small sidewalk that ran in front of the shops, there stood the figures of two small boys, looking at the decorated display in the window of the toy store. Randy felt a wistful smile form on his face.

“Hey, there you are! How’s it going?” Yashee surprised him as she set her hand on his shoulder; he’d been lost in thought and it was crowded, so he didn’t notice her approach. “Oh! I’m not seeing something I shouldn’t, am I?”

“Oh, no,” he glanced up and saw that she looked apologetic at the thought. “I was just looking. I’ve always liked snow globes.” 

“I didn’t know that. Do you have any?”

“Yeah, one. It’s on my desk at school.” The scene in that one was an indoor one. When he’d gotten it, he hadn’t questioned that it was snowing inside, and he still didn’t. It had a plush looking arm chair, a tabby cat curled up on it next to a teddy bear. And next to that a table, with an open book and a mug. Randy felt his hands starting to shake and set down the snow globe he held before he could slip and drop it. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever noticed it. Can I see it when we get back?”

“Yeah, sure thing.”

“Anyway, how’s the shopping going?”

“Slowly. I found one little thing so far. I didn’t pick it up so your wouldn’t see it if you turned up like this. I still have no idea what to get your dad though.”

“Well, if you want we can look around together for a bit and I can help you find something for him.”

“That sounds good, yeah,” plus he could still look for something else for Yashee and just try to be sneaky about it. He turned away from the display of snow globes and looked around, wondering where they should go next. 

The two of them walked around together, looking around at various things. Yashee pointed out a few things every now and then that she said her dad would like; Randy made a note of those things as they continued past them, in case he decided to go back to one of them. Eventually, they ended up at a table that was covered in different types of food based gift boxes. 

“Would something from here be good?” Randy asked. He had always felt that, if you didn’t have a better idea, something consumable was a good fall back.

“Hmm…” Yashee looked around at the different assortments. “Oh! This one’s got all sorts of fun hot chocolate in it. He’d love that!”

Randy picked up the box she indicated and examined the contents. There were different mixes like white hot chocolate, peppermint, dark chocolate. “Are you guys one of those families that has way too many mugs, or would finding some sort of novelty mug to go with it be a good idea?”

“I mean,” Yashee shrugged. “We, like, have a ton of mugs. But that never stops us from buying more. If you haven’t noticed, we drink juice and soda and stuff out of mugs. Why use regular cups when you’ve got great mugs?”

“Alright. Then I think I’ll look for a mug and get this. Just need something for you then.”

“Well, I guess we should split back up then. I’ll just try to avoid you and you can text me when you’re done?”

“Sure thing. I’ll see you later then.”

Yashee waved and disappeared back into the crowd, leaving Randy alone again. He put the gift box under his arm and started walking, in search of a mug and literally anything for Yashee. 

After a few minutes he came across a shelf full of mugs and started examining them. There were ones shaped like animals, dogs, cats and owls, ones with simple designs of flowers and trees. If he needed a mug for Raz’ul one of those would probably be good. Then he saw one that was plain white with a waving design of a staff filled with music notes. And the handle was in the shape of part of a piano, the legs forming the lower half of the handle. Yashee’s dad was a musician, Randy knew he played a few instruments, but the Borduns had a piano and Randy had already heard it played several times. This one seemed like a good pick then. He picked one up and continued on his way. 

He found his way back to the display that he’d found the spoon he liked on and grabbed one of them, placing it in the mug to consolidate the items he had to carry.

As he continued walking around, glancing over some tables he’d already seen, he was starting to feel like he’d spent far too long searching. Yashee would probably be getting tired of waiting for him, how long he was taking. But he also didn’t want to get her a bad gift. He ended up wandering into the women’s clothing department, realizing he hadn’t looked very closely there yet.

He stopped walking when he found a table covered in flannels. Yashee wore flannels a lot, and he’d noticed that some of them looked pretty worn. And there were some nice colors here. Randy set down his other items and picked up a shirt, holding it up and trying to judge the size. After some deliberating and hoping he wouldn’t accidentally insult her with the size he ended up choosing, Randy selected one he thought she would like, one with purple and blue and grey, and gathered up his other items, finally heading toward a check out.

Once he made it through and paid for the items, he found an out of the way area to stand while he sent a message to Yashee, telling her that he had finished shopping. She responded quickly, suggesting a spot for them to meet up and he set off towards it.

“Hey!” Yashee waved at him, a bag hanging from her wrist. “You find some good stuff?”

“Hopefully,” Randy glanced at his bag and shrugged. He really did hope that they would both like what he had picked out. “You?”

“Yeah! You ready to head back home then, or is there anywhere else you want to go?”

“I think just heading back to your place is fine.”

“Alright, let’s head out then!” she started toward the nearest door and Randy followed after her, grateful to be leaving the crowded store.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up for some discussion of underage drinking, but no actual drinking.

Randy was starting to regret agreeing to come to this thing. He hadn’t thought it would be very big, just like, a few close friends of the Borduns. They didn’t seem like very big party people.

Maybe he should have guessed it would be something like this when Yashee told him that he would need nicer clothes for it. When he’d been packing the night before they left, Yashee telling him things about her town, she paused and asked him if he had anything a little fancier, just in case he ended up deciding to go to a party with them. He didn’t have a lot, but he had one decent outfit for jazz band, dress pants, shirt and a vest, so he’d added that to his bag. 

But it ended up being a pretty big party, at a fancy hotel with a lot of people. A lot of people he didn’t know. Yashee and her father had introduced him to some of them, but there were too many names and faces for him to keep them all straight. So he felt incredibly awkward every time someone walked up to him and started a conversation; they all remembered his name and he had to avoid theirs.

The hotel had an open bar, and he was starting to wonder if they would card him or if they would just assume he was old enough to drink if he just walked up and ordered something. Worst thing that would happen was they asked to see his ID and his patted his pockets and then pretended he must have forgot his wallet at home or something. 

He was just about to give it a try when Yashee somehow managed to sneak up on him. “Hey, you doin’ alright?”

“Yeah! I’m great!”

She smiled sadly at him. “You don’t have to lie to me. Also, you can’t. I see you trying to scratch at your arm through your sleeve, you always do that when you’re anxious.”

He hadn’t even noticed he was doing that. He lowered his hand and looked sheepish.

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want. I get that there’s kinda a lot going on here.”

“It’s not like there’s anywhere for me to go. It’s a bit far to walk back to your place in this weather.” The weather wasn’t actually particularly bad, it was just way too cold for him to walk outside more than a few minutes. 

“We’re just off Main Street, there’s a cafe that’s open late you could go hang out at. Or I could just drive you home if you’d rather go chill there.”

“I’m not going to make you leave so I can get out of here. You’re having a lot of fun, I can’t take you away from that.”

“Randy,” Yashee was putting on her real serious voice now. “I’d be away for like. ten minutes, tops. I want you to be comfortable. If you’re not comfortable here, I’d rather step out for a few minutes to get you home than make you stay.” 

He didn’t respond. He wasn’t comfortable at all, but he still felt bad about making Yashee leave. It didn’t seem like she got to see the people here all that often, so he didn’t want to make her miss out on spending time with them. 

“Come on,” Yashee put her hand on his shoulder. “Let’s get you out of here.”

He nodded and started walking toward the door with her. She told him she would meet him at the door so she could let her father know she was going to take him home. Randy got his coat from the check and stepped outside to wait. He didn’t like the cold, but even standing at the door, it was so loud and overwhelming in there.

Even just standing outside the hotel he felt out of place. It wasn’t like anywhere he’d been before, just looking at the front of the building he could see it was too fancy for him. Even though he’d already been inside for a while he kept expecting someone would approach him and tell him to stop loitering, that his kind wasn’t welcome here. Okay, maybe they wouldn’t say the second part, but they’d probably mean it. People had said it to him before. 

It was hardly a minute before Yashee joined him outside and they walked together to her car.

The drive really was only a few minutes, so they were silent for it. He got the feeling that Yashee was trying to give hims some peace and quiet. When she pulled into the driveway, she started speaking.

“I hope you feel better! And remember to help yourself to whatever you want if you get hungry or anything!”

“Sure thing,” he smiled weakly at her as he stepped out of the car, still feeling a bit overwhelmed. “Thanks for dropping me off.”

“Of course! We’ll see you again in a bit.”

Randy gave her a little wave and closed the car door. She sat in the driveway long enough to watch him open the front door with the key she had given him before backing out and driving away. Sandy was just inside the door, wagging her tail and waiting to jump on whoever walked in. He gave her some pets until he got her to settle down and took off his coat and boots. As he walked away from the small foyer, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked to see if he had any notifications. Despite the fact that it would have been a distraction from his awkwardness during the party, he hadn’t actually looked at it. 

There was a message from Raz’ul. _Saw Yashee’s snap story. Having fun at that party?_

Randy sat down on the couch and Sandy lay at his feet. He put a foot on her and pet her as he typed out a response. _actually just got dropped off back at yashees house. Her and her dad are still there._

_I take it you didn’t have fun then?_

Randy looked at the remote on the coffee table and considered turning on the television, but decided he’d rather just have quiet for a bit. _it was just a bit overwhelming._

_You want me to call and we can talk? Or you just want peace and quiet?_

He didn’t respond immediately to that one, taking a minute to think. He had just thought he wanted some quiet. But after all that, talking to someone he was comfortable with sounded like the best way to get him to calm down from the anxiety caused by the party.

 _talking sounds_ nice? Was it weird to say it sounded nice? Good? He typed out a few responses and deleted them before he ended up actually sending one. 

_talkingd be cool_

It wasn’t even a minute before his phone told him he had an incoming call from Raz’ul. He accepted it and watched as Raz’ul’s smiling face appeared on the screen.

“Face time?” he said instead of any sort of greeting. 

Raz’ul shrugged. “Figured why not? You’re still all dressed up and everything?”

“Said I just got dropped off.”

“Yeah, but I thought you meant like, a few minutes ago, not seconds. Now if you wanna get changed into comfortable clothes you’ll have to do it while we’re talking.”

“We’ve lived together in a tiny dorm room for how many months now? It’s not like we’ve never had a conversation while getting changed before.”

Raz’ul laughed. “Fair enough. So what was wrong at the party?”

“Nothing really,” Randy shrugged. “Just a ton of people I don’t know and names I couldn’t keep track of. Like, I was surrounded by strangers but really I was the only stranger?”

“Yeah, that’s never fun. I’m glad it was cool that you left though so you could have a break.”

“Yeah, Yashee offered to get me out. Just in time too, I was about to see if the bartender would serve me.”

“Randy…” he could hear the disappointment in his friend’s voice, and see it in his expression thanks to face cams. 

“What, like you’ve never snuck a drink at one of those parties of your dad’s you’ve told us about?”

“I- Well- That’s different,” Raz’ul sputtered.

“Is it?”

“Those were usually at my house or one of my dad’s buildings, so at least if I actually went to too far I was safe to crash somewhere. Plus, I always know more people at those than you did at this one. My brothers would always keep an eye on me to make sure I didn’t do anything dumb. Well…” he tilted his head, looking thoughtful as he amended that statement. “Nothing too dumb. No irreparable damage to our family’s reputation.”

“Well, it didn’t come to that anyway. Like I said, Yashee was just in time.”

“That’s good. Drinking for a reason like that is… not great.”

“Speaking from experience?”

“Yes,” there was something in Raz’ul’s voice that told Randy he had to change the subject now.

“Hey, have you seen Sandy yet?”

“Only in a thousand snaps, yeah,” it was a good choice of subject as he could see Raz’ul smile.

“Sandy! Hey, Sandy!” Randy looked down at the floor where the dog was lying, getting her attention. She wagged her tail and looked curiously at him. “Say hi to Raz, Sandy!” He held the phone out, pointed at her so she would be on the camera now. She wagged her tail more and started sniffing at the phone.

Raz’ul laughed and started talking to the dog. “Hi, Sandy! Are you a good girl? You look like a very good girl!” She got excited over Raz’ul’s tone and stood up, wagging her tail and looking for pets. Randy started laughing as well and scratched her ears so she wasn’t left disappointed. “God, she’s cute.”

“Yeah, and sometimes she’ll lie across my chest. Just like. the right amount of weight.”

“Oh, I’ve always wanted an animal that would do that. Like, best possible pressure stim. Our cat will never sit still on me though.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty nice,” he turned his phone around so the camera was pointed at him again and continued petting Sandy’s head. “So how’s your break been? Other than the stuff I would’ve already seen on social media.”

“Alright! Dink’ul finally got home a couple days ago, so yesterday it was just me and my brothers. That was fun, just like. hanging out with them again. It’s been a while.”

“You’re brothers sound pretty cool. Do us school friends ever get to meet them?”

“I mean… probably not? Not that I’m going ‘No, you absolutely can’t meet my brothers ever,’” he made a mock serious face and pointed as he spoke. “Though, come to think of it you and my brothers would immediately begin conspiring against me and it would be a nightmare. But like, they’re just all really busy? They’ve talked about visiting me at school, but I doubt any of them could actually make time for that. The only time their all at home is basically just right now, and I don’t think inviting you home for break would go as well for me as it did for Yashee.”

“Wait, why couldn’t you invite me over?”

“It’s not that I couldn’t invite you over _ever_. Just probably not for the entirety of winter break. Which is when you’d have to be here to meet my brothers. My dad wouldn’t like the idea of someone who isn’t family spending the holidays with us. Especially-” he cut off, looking appropriately embarrassed. 

“Especially what?” Randy wasn’t letting him off easy.

“Okay, look. First, I mean, you know I think you’re great. You’re like, my best friend.” Randy blinked, he didn’t know that. “And speaking of my brothers, at least two of them would probably love you and the third would at least like you well enough. Like I said, you’d instantly start planning pranks with them. My dad on the other hand… He would think that you’re a bit… unrefined? To put it gently?”

“Unrefined? Me?” his eyes widened and he put a hand on his chest, pretending to be surprised and hurt. Of course he wasn’t surprised. When he’d first met Raz’ul at the beginning of the school year, he had groaned internally instantly upon seeing him. He’d expected that was what Raz’ul would think of him. It was a while before it ever actually got talked about, but Randy could instantly see that Raz’ul came from money. And he was used to people with money looking down on him, like they could smell the fact that he was poor. Raz’ul had surprised him though. It made sense that it was too much to hope his father would surprise him as well. 

“Yeah, well…” Raz’ul shrugged as he trailed off and looked sheepish.

“No, yeah, that tracks,” Randy assured him. “I get it.”


	6. Chapter 6

Randy and Yashee sat comfortably on the couch, Randy bundled in his own oversized hoodie and Yashee in a ridiculous sweater that had penguins wearing sunglasses on it. On the coffee table was a plate with a variety of cookies, shortbread, jelly sandwiches, and the gingerbread men the Borduns had gotten him to decorate with them last night. Randy had a glass of milk, though it was in a mug shaped like a chicken, and Yashee had tea in what he had learned was her favorite mug, which had a sea cow design on it. On the television, _The Polar Express_ was playing. 

Yashee picked up her mug and looked in it. “I need more tea, I’ll be right back.”

“Do you want to pause it?” Randy asked, watching her as she started toward the kitchen.

“Nah, I’ve seen it like, a hundred times, it’s fine,” she waved a hand dismissively and disappeared around the corner. 

Randy turned back and continued watching. It was hardly even a minute before Yashee returned. “That was impossibly fast.”

“There was still hot water in the pot,” she explained, sitting back down and setting the mug back on the table. “Oh! My favorite part! I just love the song so much!”

Randy didn’t say anything. He actually loved the song too, so it wasn’t that surprising to him that Yashee liked it as well. The main boy was walking through the last car of the train, quiet humming coming from off screen. The girl turned around as he reached her and she quietly shushed him. Then Billy started singing, and Randy sang along. He always sang along. 

“ _I’m wishing on a star, and trying to believe, that even though it’s far, he’ll find me Christmas Eve. I guess that Santa’s busy, cause he’s never come around. I think of him, when Christmas comes to town._ ” On screen, the other children were quietly approaching, listening to the song. Then the girl started her verse and Billy jumped. 

Randy jumped too, because Yashee started to sing. He might always sing along, but he’d never had anyone to sing with. “ _The best time of the year, when everyone comes home. With all this Christmas cheer, it’s hard to be alone. Putting up the Christmas tree, with friends who come around, it’s so much fun, when Christmas comes to town._

“ _Presents for the children, wrapped in red and green,_ ” Yashee waved her hand, as though indicating the stars and northern lights that looked like presents.

“ _All the things I’ve heard about, but never really seen,_ ” Randy continued singing Billy’s part.

“ _No one will be sleeping, on the night of Christmas Eve._ ”

“ _Hoping Santa’s on his way!_ ”

“ _When Santa’s sleigh bells ring,_ ”

“ _I listen all around,_ ”

“ _The herald angels sing,_ ”

“ _I never hear a sound,_ ” as they continued singing, Randy hoped that’s all it was to Yashee, that she didn’t read further into it. Yeah, maybe Billy’s story had hit a little close to home for him when he first saw it, maybe he still related. But he didn’t really want Yashee to figure that out. 

“ _And all the dreams of children,_ ”

“ _What’s lost will all be found._ ”

“ _That’s all I want, when Christmas comes to town!_ ”

Yashee mirrored the characters on screen again, reaching her hand across to take Randy’s. He smiled as he put his hand in hers. “ _That’s all I want, when Christmas comes to town._ ”


	7. Chapter 7

“Hey, papa?” Yashee looked up from Sandy, sitting next to her on the floor, to her father. “What are we gonna do about the Pickle this year?”

“Huh,” he lowered the book he was reading and blinked. “That’s a good question.”

Randy glanced between them in confusion, sure he must have misheard Yashee. “The what?”

“The Pickle.”

Okay, no. So she definitely said pickle then. But… what was something that they did with a pickle every year? Why would it be different this year? Because of him? What could he do to a pickle?

“You don’t know about the Christmas Pickle?” Yashee saw his confusion and responded with her own. 

“The _Christmas_ pickle?” What the hell did pickles have to do with Christmas?

“It’s quite an old tradition, my boy,” Yashee’s father stepped in to explain. “Normally, it goes that someone hides the Pickle on the tree, and the first child, or adult sometimes, to find it gets a little something extra. Or just good fortune in the coming year.”

“Yeah, but since it’s just been the two of us for so long, we figured it wasn’t as fun if he always hides it and I always find it. So instead we both hide a pickle and it’s a race to see who can find it first! But we have to do something different since you’re here.”

Randy shook his head in disbelief. “There’s no way this is a thing. There’s no way there’s something called the Christmas Pickle. I- You’re trying to see how gullible I am. There’s no way!” 

“It is too a thing!” Yashee did seem slightly upset at his disbelief. “I bet if you asked other people, they’d know about it too!”

“No, absolutely not.”

“I’m texting Tabitha! You should ask Raz! They’ll have my back!” Yashee had her phone out and was furiously typing out a message. 

Randy followed her lead, opening his conversation with Raz’ul and typing a new message. _do you know about this christmas pickle thing?_

There was a few minutes of awkward silence where they both waited for responses. Randy was still holding his phone when he got the notification.

_The Christmas pickle is the bane of my existence! My brothers always find it first!_

“Ha! Tabitha’s family’s never done it but she knows about it! What about Raz’ul? His family sounds like they would hide the Pickle.”

“I still refuse to believe this,” Randy was adamant. 

“Here! You can see Tabs’ response!” she held her phone out to him. He read what she said he would, but that didn’t change anything. 

“It doesn’t matter! You texted them beforehand to get them in on it! There’s no way this is a real thing! It’s too absurd!”

“You have the internet at your fingertips, just google it!”

Randy raised his phone again and did as she demanded. The internet would have nothing to tell him on this supposed tradition. The search loaded and his shoulders dropped. “Oh my god, it’s a real thing.”

“I told you!” Yashee was triumphant. Randy ignored her in favor of reading about why people would hide a pickle on their tree. 

“I don’t believe- why in the world? What?! A Civil War soldier was captured, starving and begged a guard for a pickle and he credits the pickle the guard gave him for saving his life?! Or an innkeeper trapped two students in a barrel of pickles and Saint Nicholas saved them? So people hide pickles in their trees? Oh wait! According to this site, the students were _killed_ by the innkeeper and Saint Nicholas found their bodies in the pickles and brought them back to life? What the hell is this tradition?!”

“Fun!” Yashee stuck her tongue out at him. “Who cares about all that stuff?”

“You never questioned why people hide a pickle in the tree?”

“No! Because I found out it about when I was a little kid, not a jaded asshole college student like you!”

“I’m not-” he stopped. He was pretty jaded, wasn’t he? And he was being an asshole. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be such a jerk about it. It just, does sound pretty weird to me. And the possible origins don’t help much,” he held up his phone a bit, referencing the website still open on it.

“It’s okay. I get that it sounds weird. It’s just one of those things I assume everyone knows about? I probably shouldn’t do that.”

“Well, live and learn,” Randy shrugged and shot her a smile, silently asking if they were good.

“Yeah,” Yashee beamed back at him and he took that as a yes. “Not that any of that answers the question as to what we’re going to do about it this year.”

“You guys just keep doing your thing, I’ll be fine. I don’t need to search for a pickle.”

“Oh, come on! You’ve gotta be a part! You deserve a shot at good fortune next year too!”

He couldn’t really argue with that. “But you guys already know all the prime hiding spots, I don’t have a chance anyway.”

“Well,” Yashee’s father spoke again and they both turned to look at him. “Since we’ve got you two this year, we could just do what most families do. I’ll hide the pickle in the tree and you guys try to find it before the other.”

“Yeah!” Apparently Yashee liked that idea. “I’ve never competed with someone over one pickle before!”

“You guys don’t have to change your traditions for me, it’s fine,” Randy argued. “God knows you’ve changed enough about you holiday for me already.”

“Nope!” Yashee’s dad smiled at him. “That’s how we’re doing it this year! You better give it your all!”

“I- well, okay.”


	8. Chapter 8

“You’ve never been ice skating before?!” Yashee made it sound like that was some sort of crime. 

“No?” Randy wasn’t unfamiliar with crime, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t one. 

“Oh my gosh! We have to go! You’d probably be so good at it! You’re such a nimble little thing! I still think you should do HVZ next semester, you’d be great at that too.”

“I actually was planning on it,” he’d watched people run around campus in the huge game of tag, humans defending themselves against zombies with foam darts, and thought it actually looked like a lot more fun than it originally sounded.

“Yes! Humans will win for sure with you on our side!”

“What if I join the zombies instead?” 

“Nooo!! You have to be a human! Zombies already won one! You can’t give them another!”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see how it goes.”

“Wait! Wait, we were talking about ice skating! Don’t get off topic!”

“You were the one who changed the subject!”

“Still! We’ve gotta go ice skating! We’ve got a rink in town and everything!”

“You’re forgetting a little problem. I don’t have ice skates.”

“That’s not a problem, though! They’ve got rentals there!”

“I- don’t know if I can really afford that.”

“Oh, it’s not much, don’t worry about it!”

“I-” just because it wasn’t much, didn’t mean he could easily afford it.

“No, I mean, I’ll pay, don’t worry about it,” Yashee smiled and patted him on the shoulder. 

“You don’t have to do that. I mean, you’re letting me stay with you for all of break, you don’t have to take me ice skating too,” he already felt like the Borduns were doing too much for him, they didn’t need to add to that.

“Come on! It’ll be fun! It’s like, something everyone _has_ to do, I want to take you!”

“I-”

“Come on, pleeeaaase?” she interrupted him, not letting him make any more protests.

“I mean, if you’re really sure, I guess.”

“Yes!” Yashee punched the air in victory. “Ah! My dad loves ice skating! I’ll ask him when he gets home, maybe we can go tonight!”

“Ice skating in the dark?” Randy asked, thinking that didn’t sound like the best plan. 

“I mean, the rink is well lit and everything, so it won’t actually be dark. Like, you’ll be able to see just fine.”

Later on, after her father got home and he enthusiastically agreed to the plan, the three of them climbed into the car to make the short drive down to the rink. It was a large, open building, covered by a roof and illuminated by large lights. There was a small desk, where they went to pay the small entrance fee and rent a pair of skates for Randy.

There was a bench on the outside of the rink near the entrance. Randy sat next to Yashee, pulling the rental skates onto his feet. Yashee got hers on faster and got up, skating around in small circle near him.

“Hurry up, Randy!” she exclaimed, artfully skidding to a stop in front of him.

“I’m putting knives on my feet, I want to make sure they’re on right.”

“You just have to make sure to get them tight enough, that doesn’t take any extra time. Come on, I wanna skate!”

“Then skate! I’m not stopping you,” he finished lacing up the second skate and then decided he should double knot them both.

“You’ve never been ice skating before, I’m not gonna leave to your own devices, man.”

“I thought you were thinking I’d be good at it.”

“Yeah, but if you’re instantly good at it I’ll just be annoyed. I’m expecting at least a little bit of you struggling to stay upright and move at all before you start figuring it out.”

“Okay, well I think they’re tied up as good as they’re gonna be. How do I get up?”

“You just get up! You’ve gotta be bit more careful not to put any like, forward pressure on your feet, but it’s not actually any different from standing up without skates on.”

Randy nodded and adjusted both his feet on the ice beneath him, making sure that there was only downward pressure. He scooted to the edge of the bench and carefully pushed himself up. Okay. Step one complete. He was standing. Now what?

“Now you just start going!” Yashee said, as though she read his mind.

“Right. How do I do that?”

“You… huh. I don’t actually really know how to explain it? You move your feet sort of like walking except you don’t pick them up as much. Like,” she started skating slowly so he could watch her movements. Randy studied her for a moment before trying to push himself forward, watching his feet so he could compare his motion to hers. “No, don’t look down,” Yashee told him. “It won’t really help, and then you can’t see where you’re going.”

“Right, okay,” Randy looked up, suddenly feeling like he had a lot less balance. He knew that was his mind playing tricks on him, so he tried to ignore it. He pushed one skate against the ice and tried to start moving again while looking forward instead. It was awkward and uneven, but he was moving. 

“That’s good!” Yashee encouraged him. 

“So, before I get to the point where I really need it, how do I stop?”

“Well, if you know you want to stop enough beforehand, it’s a bit easier to just let your momentum run out when you’re just starting out. But if it’s more urgent, just carefully put one of your feet out perpendicular to your motion. Like this,” she skated away so she could have a bit of momentum when she demonstrated what she was talking about in front of him. “You can also kind of turn and skid to a stop,” she skated the other direction, quickly turning ninety degrees so her momentum continued in the same direction but was slowed as her skates brought up a layer of frost from the ice. “That’s a bit trickier though, so unless you start getting really comfortable you might want to hold off on that.” 

“‘Kay,” Randy started slowly skating again, catching himself when he tried to automatically look at his feet. Then he tried to copy the first movement Yashee had showed him, putting a foot out so the blade caught the ice and slowed him down. “Is there anything else I need to know before I start trying to actually go?”

“Well, like you said, you just put knives on your feet, so obviously be careful if you fall. If you feel like you’re gonna fall, you can sorta crouch down and try to do a controlled fall.”

“Right. I guess it’s time to try to actually skate?”

“Yeah! Come on!” Yashee skated away, turning one-eighty without losing her momentum to continue moving while looking back at him. 

“Seriously?!” Randy raised his arms in frustration. He grumbled a bit to himself about show-offs as he started moving again, slowly following after Yashee. 

As he went, he started getting the hang of things. Instinct stopped telling him to look at his feet to see what they were doing and he kept his eyes where he was going. When he started, he kept waving his arms in an effort to catch his balance every time he tried to move faster than a crawl, but that slowly started happening less often. At one point he even tried to turn and skid to a stop like Yashee had showed him. It didn’t go so great, but he didn’t actually fall.

“You’re picking it up pretty quickly! I knew you’d be good at this!”

“I don’t know if I’d say I’m good. Especially with the way you’re skating circles around me.” And she literally was, going around the entire rink and catching back up to him to make a loop around him. 

“You wanna skate circles? I can help you skate circles, give me your hands!” she reached her hands out to take his.

Randy’s body reacted faster than his mind could process and he automatically put his hands in hers before he worked out what she meant. Then he figured it out and instantly tried to backpedal. “Wait wait don’t!”

But she was already moving faster, somehow skating backwards and pulling him along. It was just about all he could do to keep his feet beneath him and trust Yashee. Then she twisted around, spinning Randy around her.

“Okay, that’s enough, thanks!” 

Yashee was laughing, just having fun with this, but slowed down so they came to a stop. “Sorry, Randy, I couldn’t resist.”

“Well, I think I’m done now,” he reoriented himself after that spin and started slowly skating towards the entrance to the rink.

“No, come on! Don’t stop just because of that, you’re fine!”

“No, nope, I’m done,” he reached the bench and sat down, starting to take the skates off. 

“Hey, they’ve got hot chocolate here,” Yashee sat next to him. “What if we get a few cups and see how you feel after?”

Randy sighed. “Alright, sure,” he shot her a smile.

“Great! I’m gonna go tell my dad!” she pushed herself off the bench and quickly skated off to catch him.

Randy finished removing the skates and pulled his boots back on. He did actually need a break, but he also realized that if he just stopped skating, Yashee and her dad would probably stop as well. And they clearly wanted to skate more. So he agreed to the hot chocolate, figuring he’d probably be okay to get back on the ice after. He waited just off the rink for Yashee to return.

Both her and her dad skated up and took their own skates off, following him off the rink. “Why don’t you two pick a table and I’ll grab the cocoa?” her dad offered.

“Sure thing, papa! Come on, Randy,” Yashee started toward the small area that had some picnic tables while her dad walked over to the small concession stand. She stopped at one of the tables and looked over at Randy. “This one good?”

Randy shrugged. “I don’t think there’s much of a difference, so yeah.” He sat down in one of the seats, Yashee in another.

“So, other than me spinning you around, how do you like ice skating?”

“It’s pretty fun,” he told her with a smile. “The spinning was a bit much, but other than that, yeah, it was cool.”

“That’s good, I’m glad you’re having fun.”

Yashee’s dad approached, carefully carrying three cups. He set one in front of Yashee and Randy each, keeping hold of the third as he sat down.

“Wow, that was fast,” Randy remarked, putting his hands around the cup to warm them. 

“They always have some already made. Enough people get it that it never sits for too long,” he explained, taking a sip from his own cup.

For a while, the three of them sat at the table, slowly drinking their hot chocolate and talking about various things. The Borduns asked more about how Randy felt about ice skating, how he was taking to it. They talked about other random things, what they’d have for dinner tomorrow, the fact that they needed to go grocery shopping. 

Finally, the cups were empty and Yashee asked if Randy was okay to get back on the ice. He agreed and stood up with them as they returned to the ice. 

A few more times as they skated, Yashee held her hand out toward Randy. He only took it after getting a promise that she wouldn’t spin him again. Instead, she only pulled him along with her, skating a bit faster than he would on his own. She was also more careful to slow down when he showed any sign of discomfort.

All in all, Randy was glad he had agreed to this. Ice skating was fun, and he wondered if there was somewhere near school that they could go with Raz’ul and Tabitha once they got back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HVZ is Humans vs Zombies which is a thing I know at least two schools do. Everyone participating gets a neon colored bandanna, humans wear it on their arm and zombies on their head. If a zombie tags a human, they're a zombie. If a human shoots a zombie they're 'dead' for like, half an hour. Indoors is a safe zone for everyone. Humans can also throw balled up clean socks as a weapon.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up in this one for brief mentions of a couple nasty things including racism, gangs, police violence, and scars and an indirect threat of violence

Randy looked curiously into the storefront window. The Borduns had run into a friend, and he felt awkward standing there silently, so he quietly wandered away, just a little way down the street, to let them talk. And this store, it was exactly like something out of a Hallmark movie. It was nearly ninety years old, with crowded shelves of candy, toys, candles, jewelry, all depending on which of the many rooms you in. It was even called a Five and Dime still. There were just too many ridiculously quaint things about this town. Including this whole Carol-cade thing they were about to do. A huge caroling session that anyone could join in on on Main Street. It should be fun.

“Randall Greentrees.”

His entire body stiffened. Yashee had literally never called him Randall, and her father had done it once, never slipping up after being corrected. And neither of them ever used his last name. But even if the voice had called him Randy, it was obviously neither of them. This voice was too pompous, too I’m-so-much-better-than-you. And it wasn’t happy to see him.

He looked around and saw who had to be the source. The only person looking at him, walking towards him, was a woman. He didn’t recognize her specifically, but he recognized her. She had blonde hair, painstakingly cut and artfully arranged under her fur hat, and a long, expensive looking coat. Randy didn’t know how his past had apparently followed him to this town he’d never been in before, but somehow it had. 

“Never would have expected to see you here. Honestly, I’m a bit surprised you’re not dead or in prison yet.”

Randy didn’t say anything. He just watched the woman, trying to figure out what exactly her game was. 

“Oh! You don’t even recognize me? How rich. Not that it matters, I suppose,” she flipped her hair that hung from beneath her hat. “Let me get to the point, Randall. I’m not going to let you ruin this town like you and your little gang ruined my last town.”

Everything about that sentence was an exaggeration. The town was far from ruined. You had to be careful if you went to the nearby city, sure, but there were a lot of reasons for that. And he could only imagine the reactions to it being called _his_ gang. “I’m not even with-”

She held up a finger, cutting him off. “I’m certainly not going to let you ruin this nice little tradition this town has. I don’t know what you’re planning here, but if I see you during the festivities, I will be calling the police.”

“I-! I’m planning on singing!” Randy sputtered at the threat. “I’m not doing anything, I’m not breaking the law!”

“Maybe not,” she looked at him cooly and Randy tried not to shudder. The steely gaze reminded him of another. “But if the police do show up, who do you think they’re going to listen to? Me?” she batted her eyelashes, making herself look as precious and innocent as she could. “Or you?” her expression and her tone were both instantly filled with disgust. “A brown kid with a scar on his face?”

Randy took a step back and looked at the ground. He absently moved one hand to grab at his opposite wrist, where, under the layers of clothing, was the scar from his time in handcuffs. 

“Face it, Randall. You just scream trouble.” He wasn’t looking at her anymore, but he could hear the triumph in her voice. “Now, will I be seeing you with the rest of carolers?”

“No.”

“Excellent! We wouldn’t want anything messy to happen.”

“Randy! There you are!”

Yashee couldn’t meet this woman. That would be- It would be bad. But there wasn’t anything he could do to prevent it.

“Oh my! She’s a big one, isn’t she?” the woman’s voice was low enough that Yashee shouldn’t be able to hear it. “She another part of the gang? She’d fit right in.” Randy looked up and glared at her for the accusation. Yashee was one of the nicest people he’d ever met, she’d have no place in any gang. “Careful with that expression there, I’m starting to feel threatened,” she smirked at him. When she next spoke, it was louder, other people would be able to hear. “Well, it was lovely seeing you again, Randall. A real Christmas surprise!” she walked away.

Yashee reached him when the woman was several yards away. “Who was that? I didn’t think you knew anyone here,” she was watching the woman as she disappeared down the street. “Can’t be that close though, she called you Randall.”

Randy stared blankly ahead, at the shrinking figure and at nothing. _Who do you think they’re going to listen to?_ He could feel that he was starting to squeeze his wrist, but for some reason he couldn’t lessen the pressure. _A brown kid with a scar on his face._ It was an unpleasant reminder that no matter how hard he tried, no matter how far he got from the Nowhere Man, he could never really leave that phase of his life behind. Because the gang wasn’t the only reason for everything that happened then, his skin color had a lot to do with how he ended up there. 

“Hey,” there was a hand on his shoulder and he tried not to jump. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah. I-” He couldn’t stay. His mind raced for a reason that he’d be suddenly backing out of this. It technically wasn’t a guarantee that anything would happen, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to risk it. He started coughing and hoped it sounded convincing. “I think I caught a cold or something and this, well, cold isn’t helping. It might be best if I just head back to your house and take it easy.”

“Oh! Yeah, of course! We can head right back, I can make you some tea or something.”

“No, that’s fine. We’re like, five minutes from your house. I don’t feel bad enough that I’m not going to be able to make it there on my own. You stay here with your dad and have a good time,” he punctuated his words with a few more coughs. 

“Are you sure?” she was clearly concerned about him and he hoped it was because of the fake sickness.

“Yeah, you were looking forward to this. I’ll be fine,” at some point he must have released his wrist as he now waved his hand as though to brush away her worry.

“Well, okay. But you remember where the tea is and everything? In case you want to make some?”

“Yeah, ‘course.”

“The drawer under the coffee maker.”

“I know, Yashee.”

“Okay, take care. I hope you feel better!”

“Thanks,” he started taking a few steps away as they started their goodbyes.

“Randy? Who was that woman?”

Okay. Maybe he didn’t get off as scott free as he thought. “No one. Just someone I used to know. I’ll see you later,” he gave a small wave and turned to walk away before she could question him again. Even though he’d been quick in turning his back to her, he tried not to look like he was running away. He tried the whole way back to Yashee’s house.

The encounter had dragged him back to the past, to a time when he was hypervigilant, when he had to be. He stayed aware for the short walk, his eyes jumping around and eyeing every tree, every decoration. This town was incredibly safe, nothing was going to happen. Except for what had happened, apparently. 

When he reached the Bordun’s house and let himself in, he sank to the floor and wrapped his arms around Sandy as she greeted him. It seemed like she lessened her excited wiggling so he could bury his face in her fur. After a moment, he released her and took off his outer wear. She stayed near him while he did so and followed him when he walked further into the house.

Even though he wasn’t actually sick, he decided to take Yashee’s advice and went to make himself a mug of tea. They had a teapot, but he ignored in favor of just nuking the water in the microwave; it was easier for one cup. While that was spinning, he opened the drawer where they stored their tea and pulled out a bag of an apple cinnamon rooibos. Since that only took about ten seconds, he checked his phone. A few notifications that didn’t really matter and a message from Raz’ul.

_How’s it going?_

Randy read the message and closed the app. It was sent a few minutes ago. It could be a coincidence. Or Yashee could’ve asked Raz’ul to check on him. If he’d regained his composure faster, if he hadn’t stood frozen staring at nothing, he wouldn’t have to worry about that.

The microwave beeped and he removed the steaming mug, dropping the bag in as he went to sit down. Sandy sat at his feet and he tried to focus on the feel of her fur and the smell of the steeping tea. To not think about everything else. It was fine. He had gotten away, the woman wouldn’t do anything if he wasn’t there. She had technically threatened Yashee as well, but she didn’t have the race card to play there, so she probably wouldn’t do anything. Maybe he should have let Yashee take him home though. No. It’s fine. 

He had set his phone down on the coffee table and could hear it vibrate. He sighed and picked it up to check it. It was Raz’ul again.

_Are you okay?_

So Yashee had definitely told Raz’ul something. He turned the phone screen off and set it aside again. There wasn’t anything he could tell Raz’ul. Nothing he was willing to tell anyway. He wasn’t going to tell them what that woman had said. He certainly wasn’t going to let anything vaguely related to the Nowhere Man come up with them. He didn’t know what would happen if the Borduns found out about that now. A bus back to campus maybe.

It was a few minutes of silence, a few minutes of trying not to let anxiety run his thoughts. Then his phone vibrated again, and it kept going. A call then. He grumbled and grabbed it, unsurprised to see that it was Raz’ul.

“What?”

“You know I can see that you read my messages, right? Why aren’t you responding?”

“What did Yashee tell you?”

“What? What would Yashee have told me?”

“I’m not a dumbass. You never care if I don’t get back to you immediately. So there has to be something that’s making you care right now.”

“I-” Raz’ul hesitated, probably recognizing that he couldn’t lie to Randy at the best of times. “She said that you ran into someone that seemed to know you, and you were acting weird after.”

“I’m just not feeling great. Think I’m coming down with a cold.”

“Randy. I told you the truth, could you show me the same respect?”

“What? Something unexpected happened and I’m feeling sick. I think I’m entitled to act a little weird.”

“Well, are you actually okay, then?”

“Yeah!” Randy knew he answered too quickly. “Yeah. Like I said, I’m just feeling a bit sick. But I’m back at Yashee’s house now with a cup of tea, so… Hopefully that’ll be gone in the morning.”

“Okay, that’s good to know. Sorry. For being pushy. I guess I should just let you rest and enjoy your tea if you’re not feeling great.”

“That’d be good, yeah.”

“Kay, well, I hope feel better. Talk to you later, at some point… bye.”

Even though he’d started the conversation feeling annoyed at his friends, Randy caught himself smiling. “Later, Raz,” he lowered the phone and hung up. 

So, that wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Hopefully he could get Yashee to drop it as easily if she brought it up again. He sat back and sipped at his tea, running his foot over Sandy again. 

He started thinking again, trying not to worry too much, slowly drinking his tea. At some point, when the cup was getting close to empty, he raised the mug and took a sip. He made a face at the cold temperature of the tea. It never made sense to him how much the flavor of a drink could be affected by the temperature. He decided not to bother with the last few sips if they would be unenjoyable and stood up, carrying the mug to the kitchen.

Randy dumped what remained of the tea down the drain and set the mug in the sink before walking to the guest room. He was going to close the door, but Sandy followed him in so he left it open a crack for her. The Borduns weren’t back yet. Sandy would leave to greet them when they got home and he could close the door behind her. 

He walked over to the chair that his backpack had been sitting in the whole time, still holding a few of the things he had packed. He undid the zipper that had still been closed and removed the only item that was still in that pocket. An old, slightly beat up teddy bear.

Its fur was thinning in a few spots, and it had the texture of a stuffed animal that had been through the wash and lost its original fluff. One of its ears had been torn down the middle a long time ago and poorly stitched back up by him. Randy pulled it to his chest and let himself fall onto the bed. He stayed there, just hugging the bear, trying not to think, for a long time.


	10. Chapter 10

“I still don’t get why oranges are like. such a Christmas thing,” Yashee commented as she pushed a clove into peel of the orange she was holding.

“They’re a winter fruit,” Randy shrugged, further along in his orange than her. He had wondered aloud the other day why the Borduns didn’t seem to have any oranges, and Yashee’s father instantly promised to remedy that. He wouldn’t listen to Randy’s protests that it wasn’t necessary and returned from work the next day with a bag of them.

“But like. Why? It’s not like they grow in winter. They grow in Florida.”

“They’re ready in winter,” Randy finished covering the orange he held in cloves, keeping hold of it as he looked up at Yashee with a smile. “I think them being part of Christmas goes back to times they were harder to get? Just like from travel, I guess? But they’re sweet and _exotic_ ,” he waved one hand as though that added to the word. “They were exciting to find in stockings or whatever.”

“How do you know that, but you don’t know about the Christmas Pickle,” Yashee shot him an incredulous look.

“How do _you_ know about the pickle but not this?” he countered.

Yashee laughed. “Fair enough. So did you get oranges every year when you were younger or something? And that’s why you know about this?”

“I guess? It wasn’t like I always had an orange in a stocking or whatever, but yeah. I’ve had a lot of oranges in the winter.”

“Why don’t you decorate another one? Your first one looks really good and we have more than enough.”

Randy took another orange from the overfull bowl and set to work on it. For a few minutes, they sat in silence, creating patterns across the surface of the fruits.

“Hey, Randy?”

“Hmm?”

“Who was that woman the other night?”

Randy tried not to stiffen. Yashee was probably watching him; if she saw him stiffen he’d never convince her it was nothing. “No one, I told you.”

“But she _knew_ you. She knew your name. And you were acting so weird after. I just want to make sure you’re actually okay, I guess.”

Randy pushed a clove into a carefully chosen spot on the orange he held, refusing to look up. “If I tell you I’m okay, will you drop it?” he asked quietly.

“I don’t think I really believe it if you’re just trying to get me to stop asking.”

“Look. It… wasn’t pleasant, running into her. Especially since I thought I wouldn’t know anyone here but you. But it’s not a big deal. I just needed some time afterwards, and I’m fine now,” he finally managed to look up and meet Yashee’s eye. If nothing else, hopefully she believed he was fine. Because he honestly was. Nervous that he’d run into her again, sure, but fine. 

“Okay,” Yashee smiled at him. “Sorry for pestering you.”

“I can’t really be annoyed at you for worrying about me, can I?”


	11. Chapter 11

It was Christmas Eve and they were sitting in the living room, passing presents around. Apparently, when Yashee was younger, travel and extended family holidays resulted in them celebrating with just her immediate family on Christmas Eve. And they just never stopped when plans and traditions changed.

“Hey,” Randy said casually when a glint in the tree caught his eye. He reached up and removed the ornament that was tucked into the branches. “Is this that Christmas Pickle I’ve heard so much about?”

“Randy found the Pickle!” Yashee cheered. “Good fortune for Randy next year!” 

“I’ve already had a lot of good fortune thanks to you,” he smiled up at her, hoping both the Borduns knew how appreciative he was.

“And now you get to have even more. Thanks to the power of Pickle!”

It was strange, sitting with the Borduns as they opened their gifts. He’d managed to find something decent for the both of them, thanks in part to Yashee’s help. So it wasn’t strange in that he had nothing to give, just strange in the novelty of it all. Even when he was part of a gift exchange, it had never really been the whole, sit around the decorated tree, watching each other open gifts. It… wasn’t much of anything, really. 

Yashee’s dad opened the gift from Randy, exclaiming with excitement at all the types of hot chocolate. And he examined the mug, smiling as he turned it in his hands. Then he frowned slightly and turned it upside down. Randy smiled as he watched a small piece of paper fall into his hand. Then his frown turned into a smile and he laughed.

“Is this a pickle?” he held up the drawing Randy had hid inside the mug.

Randy shrugged. “I thought I would make sure you got your pickle good fortune for the year.”

“Well, thank you very much, Randy.” 

Randy smiled and nodded in response.

Yashee chose the next gift to be opened, picking up one of the larger boxes that sat under the tree, she turned to hand it to Randy with a huge smile on her face. 

He looked down at it, eyes wide. It was wrapped in a red and green striped paper, with a gold bow on top, about the most stereotypical Christmas present that could ever exist. He looked back at Yashee, almost hoping she would take it back, that it was mistake. There was no way this one was meant for him. When he spoke, he could hear the confusion in his own voice. “You really didn’t have to.”

“There’s no way we were gonna have you over for winter break and not give you gift! You can’t just sit here and watch us open things!”

“You don’t think letting me stay for all of break is enough of a gift?”

“Nope! So open your actual gift! This one’s from both of us!”

He cracked a small smile and started opening the gift, carefully peeling the tape off the paper. When he had enough of the paper folded back that he could see the box, his eyes widened again at the label. There was no way, right? That was too much, they couldn’t have done this. He opened the side of the box and carefully tilted it, letting what was inside slide out a bit. And there, carefully packaged in foam and cardboard and plastic wrapping, was a keyboard.

There was pressure building in his eyes and he set the box on the floor in front of him. He raised his hands, covering the lower half of his face as he stared at the half open gift.

“Randy?” Yashee sounded worried. 

His friend’s concern only increased the pressure. He raised one hand further, holding it a few centimeters from the bridge of his nose, trying to cover his eyes as he felt tears starting to form.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah! Yeah, I just, uh, need some air. Is it okay if I step out for a minute?” it was rude enough to just leave with their permission, he certainly wasn’t going to do it without. 

“Of course. But, Randy-”

He didn’t wait for her to finish, pushing himself up and rushing toward the front door. He stepped through it quickly, closing the door to keep any more chill than necessary from getting into the house. Stepping across the porch, the cold bit at his bare feet, he grabbed the railing and leaned against it as he breathed in the winter air. 

It was snowing, but the roof over the porch kept the flakes from landing on him. There were still tears trying to stream down his face and his eyes stung against the cold. He didn’t know if tears could freeze, but he didn’t want to find out. He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes, trying to staunch the tears.

Why? Why would they do that? That was too much. He was wishing he hadn’t told them that he didn’t have a keyboard of his own, but he never could have predicted this. This was… too much. 

The door opened and he didn’t react, didn’t look around. There were footsteps, approaching him, and he felt something placed over his shoulders. A blanket. The person stepped away and leaned against the railing a few feet away, mimicking his position and giving him space.

“I’ll go back in if you want to be left alone, I just didn’t want you to freeze out here,” Yashee told him. “But, Randy, I- you don’t actually have to say anything, your answer can just be ‘leave me alone!’ but I have to ask. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he grabbed the corners of the blanket and pulled it tighter around himself.

“Randy,” she sounded disappointed, she sounded sad. “You don’t have to tell me, but you don’t have to lie either.”

“It’s just,” he sighed, turning his face further away from her. “I just wasn’t expecting that.”

“I mean, we basically told you a while ago that we were going to get you something.”

“Yeah! But-” he straightened up and turned to look at Yashee, he could feel the wildness in his own expression. “I thought it would be like, something cheap and stupid! Or no-” he hit himself in the forehead at his wording. “That sounds shitty. Something… inexpensive and… generic? I don’t know. But not that. I wasn’t expecting _that_.”

“Do you not like it?”

“Yashee… I love it,” he smiled at her before looking away again, back out at the snow covered world.

“Then… I don’t get it. What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong is that I don’t deserve it.”

“What?!”

“Yashee, I- I’m not a good person! I don’t know what I did, but somehow I tricked you into thinking that I am.” He saw her opening her mouth, trying to protest, but he cut her off. “Ask anyone from where I grew up! They’d all be tripping over themselves to tell you how _stupid_ it was of you to let me in your house at all, never mind for a month! About how I’m going to - I don’t know - make off with the silverware or something! I’m not a good person, and I don’t get good things! Nothing ever works out for me! Except lately, when everything’s worked out for me! Even being able to go to college was a miracle, and Raz’ul’s, like, the best roommate I could have asked for and you’re the best neighbor. I just kept feeling like the rug was going to get ripped out from under me, that I was going to ruin everything!

“And this! This was just- tempting the fates! Like, how dare I ask for another good thing? Every nice thing you and your dad did is just another thing on the pile that’s going to come toppling down when you realized the truth about me!

“I just! Don’t deserve all this! I don’t deserve you! You’re too good for me!” he turned back to the railing, leaning against it as he looked away again. 

“Randy…” Yashee finally got a chance to speak again, and it sounded like she was about to cry. “I- Randy, can I give you a hug?” He nodded, but didn’t turn to face her, he just… couldn’t. She stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly. “I think you deserve it more than anyone. I… don’t really know what your life was like before I met you. But if, in your own words, nothing ever works out for you, I don’t think one good semester makes up for all that. Maybe things have been good for you ‘cause some sort of like. good karma is finally catching up to you. I just wanted you to have a good holiday, to make it the best I could.”

“You’re too good.” He wiggled in her arms. She loosened her hold and seemed about to release him until he turned and wrapped his arms, still holding the blanket, around her. Once he settled, she tightened her hold again.

“You’re good too,” she whispered. “You know how I know? A bad person wouldn’t worry about being bad.”

That… made sense, didn’t it? He didn’t know if it made him believe Yashee’s argument, but it made sense.

“Hey,” Yashee stepped back, but kept one arm around Randy. “Why don’t we head back inside? It’s cold out here.”

Randy just nodded, walking along with her and letting her guide him back to the door. Now the warmth bit at him, making him realize just how cold his toes had got from the winter air. 

“Oh, good! You’re back!” Yashee’s dad exclaimed when the door entered. “Come on, I made hot chocolate to warm you two back up,” he walked into the living room as they did, looking the pair over. “Gosh, I wish you’d put shoes on, Randy. We’ll get Sandy to lie on your feet to warm them.”

Randy drew his hands up, covering his face with the blanket as he started laughing quietly.

“Hey,” Yashee sounded worried again as she rubbed his shoulder and he realized that covering his face as his shoulders started shaking would make it look like he was crying. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Randy lowered his arms so they could see he was smiling. And he saw that Yashee’s dad was standing near the couch, holding two mugs and watching with some concern. “You’re just too good,” he repeated what he’d said outside. It applied to both of them after all. 

“I like to think I’m the right amount of good,” he smiled and set the mugs down on the coffee table. “Now come sit down.”

Randy nodded and moved forward to sit back down on the sofa, Yashee following and sitting next to him. As promised, she beckoned Sandy and got her to lie down on Randy’s feet, covering them in her fluffy warmth. He and Yashee nursed their mugs as they returned to the comfort of sitting around the tree, talking and slowly opening the gifts that remained.


	12. Chapter 12

“Wait, what’s going on?” Randy looked through the front door in confusion. It was approaching midnight when the Bordun’s smiled conspiratorially, pulling him to his feet. Yashee pushed him toward the door and picked up some sort of basket that had been on the porch, handing it to him. 

“Just wait a minute, just until after midnight!” Yashee told him.

The tv was on so he glanced at it, checking the countdown on the screen. There was less than a minute left. The Borduns shifted between keeping an eye on the countdown and watching Randy, like they were making sure he didn’t come back inside early. He had no idea what was going on, they’d left the door open and the cold was getting in. 

Five, four, three, two, one

“Happy New Year!” Yashee and her father exclaimed in unison.

“You can come in now, Randy!” Yashee told him as her dad pulled her into a hug, giving her sleeve a gentle tug so she bent over enough that he could plant a kiss on her temple. She quickly returned the hug before running over to Randy as he entered the house again. She steadied the other side of the basket to make sure she didn’t knock it out of his hands as she gently placed a kiss on the top of his head. “Happy New Year, man!”

“Yeah,” Randy smiled and felt his cheeks warm. “Happy New Year to you guys too. Will you tell me what that was now?”

“First foot!”

Randy got no explanation from the name and got a sense of deja vu. “Is this gonna turn out like when you told me about the pickle?”

“It has an odd name, but makes a bit more sense than the pickle when you hear about it,” Yashee’s dad explained. “The first foot is simply the first person to enter a home in the new year, where they represent the year to come, how it will go. That’s what the basket is for. If the first foot brings things like food, money and fuel when they enter, there will be plenty of that in the year to come.”

Randy had already looked down at the basket and seen some of the things he had mentioned, a loaf of bread, an orange. “But, wait. The first person to enter your house represents the year to come? Like, for the household, the family?”

“Yep!” Yashee smiled at him, trying to get him to take his seat again. On the television another musician was performing.

“And you had me do that?”

“Of course, we thought it would be nice to include you. We didn’t tell you beforehand since you’ve been so concerned with altering our traditions for the year.”

They were right to not tell him if they wanted him to do this one. He didn’t think he would have agreed if he’d known what it was, what it meant. The first person to enter a home represents what the coming year will bring and they wanted the first person to enter their home to be a criminal? An ex-gang member? He didn’t think he represented anything good. He kept himself from saying so though. He knew neither of them would hear it; it would just make them sad to hear him say that about himself. So instead he smiled and said “Thanks.” And he tried to believe what they did. Maybe he still couldn’t believe he was a good person, but he was starting to believe he wasn’t as bad as he always thought. “For everything.”


End file.
